A lot has changed for the Tennessee Volunteers since June 2025. An offseason full of highs and lows has reshaped the program, setting the stage for what Tennessee could look like in 2026.
After coming up short of the College World Series last season, the Volunteers entered the offseason facing significant roster turnover. Tennessee had nine players selected in the 2025 MLB draft, including eight in the first three rounds, forcing the program to retool heading into the fall.
That transition became even more complex when head coach Tony Vitello departed last fall to take the managerial position with the San Francisco Giants, leaving Tennessee to navigate personnel losses and a leadership change at the same time. The Volunteers promoted associate head coach Josh Elander to head coach and retained most of the roster assembled prior to the change.
Henry Ford headlines the new additions to the roster after being a prized transfer portal acquisition in the offseason. The utility man played mostly right field and first base, but also mixed in some innings at third base and center field.
Along with his ability to play multiple positions, the 20-year-old has already had two monster seasons at Virginia. Since his freshman year in 2024, Ford has slashed .348/.414/.587, striking out less than 16% of the time and walking 9.58% of the time.
While he has struck out more than he has walked over the course of his career, those numbers have drastically changed from his freshman year to his sophomore year. In 2024, Ford struck out 53 times while walking 29 times. In 2025, Ford struck out 30 times and walked 21 times.
Ford was a Freshman All-American for D1Baseball.com, NCBWA and Perfect Game in 2024. In 2025, he was a Second Team All-ACC honoree and made this year’s D1Baseball.com Preseason All-American Third Team, Perfect Game Preseason All-American First Team and Preseason All-SEC First Team lists.
Ford played entirely in center field last summer in the Cape Cod League, making it a likely role for him to fill in Knoxville. Regardless of his position this spring, Ford’s bat will be a major threat at the top of Tennessee’s batting order.
This was not the end of the line for Tennessee, however. After losing nine players to professional baseball, including a program-record four first-round picks, the program had some holes to fill.
Outside of Ford, the Tennessee recruiting team seemed to have two main goals: pitching depth and positional versatility. Almost everyone Tennessee brought in from the transfer portal has pitched at the college level. Some of them are full-time pitchers and two of them have been two-way players at the collegiate level. Names like DJ Newman, Garrett Wright, Blaine Brown and Clay Edmondson are some of the names at the forefront of that list.
Elander spoke on the importance of versatility and athleticism in today’s college baseball environment on a recent episode of “Kiv’s Korner.”
“The versatility of being able to play multiple positions, and then, now with the condensed rosters that we’re going down to, you know, those two-way guys are like gold,” Elander stated.
Elander continued by warning about “the trap people get into in recruiting is, ‘well, he’s pretty good at pitching and pretty good at outfield,’ but this is the SEC. Can you do both?”
DJ Newman is likely the best candidate to play both ways for Tennessee right now. The junior from Bowling Green has had three strong seasons of two-way play.
Newman pitched quite often in his first two seasons of college ball. In 2023, he made 15 appearances almost entirely out of the bullpen and posted a 3.49 ERA while striking out 33 and not allowing a single home run over 28 1/3 innings. On the other side of the ball, Newman slashed .383/.481/.495 while starting 30 games.
In 2024, Newman pivoted to a starter role on the mound. In eight starts, Newman struck out 42 and walked only 10 over 42 1/3 innings. He also recorded a 3.61 ERA. Newman added more power to the bat in 2024 as well. While hitting .371 and still getting on base at a clip of .455, Newman bumped his slugging percentage up to .664.
In 2025, Newman’s year was cut short by an injury. Before the injury, however, Newman remained an effective starter on the mound and an elite threat at the plate. He posted a 3.77 ERA over his 14 1/3 innings and slashed .419/.495/.645 in 25 games at the plate.
Garrett Wright is another name to know this year. As the only other incoming transfer outside of Ford to not have college pitching experience, his job will be a bit different.
The super-utility player has played multiple games at left field, right field, center field, third base and catcher, although the vast majority of innings have come behind the plate. Also from Bowling Green, the young junior has shown exceptional skills at the plate.
In 94 games over two seasons at Bowling Green, Wright has slashed .390/.505/.619 while driving in 76 runs on 14 home runs and 28 doubles.
Despite the coaching transition, Tennessee maintained a high retention rate among players recruited over the summer, with the roster quickly rallying around the new coaching staff. The buy-in has been immediate, and expectations in Knoxville remain unchanged, as the Volunteers enter 2026 believing they are capable of competing for a national championship.
